Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria

There is growing evidence on the impacts of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) from Asia. The evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where SSNM developments are more recent and where conditions concerning soil fertility and fertilizer use differ importantly from those in Asia, is extremely scarce. We evaluate a SSNM advisory tool that allows extension agents to generate fertilizer recommendations tailored to the specific situation of an individual farmer's field, using a three-year randomized controlled trial with 792 smallholder farmers in the maize belt of northern Nigeria. Two treatment arms were implemented: T1 and T2 both provide SSNM information on nutrient use and management, but T2 provides additional information on maize price distributions and the associated variability of expected returns to fertilizer use. We estimate average and heterogenous intentto-treat effects on agronomic, economic and environmental plot-level outcomes. We find that T1 and T2 lead to substantial increases (up to 116%) in the adoption of good fertilizer management practices and T2 leads to incremental increases (up to 18%) in nutrient application rates, yields and revenues. Both treatments improve low levels of nutrient use efficiency and reduce high levels of greenhouse gas emission intensity, after two years of treatment. Our findings underscore the possibility of a more gradual and sustainable intensification of smallholder agriculture in SSA, as compared with the Asian Green Revolution, through increased fertilizer use accompanied by improved fertilizer management

Information provision and preferences for more sustainable dairy farming: Choice experimental evidence from Sweden

Dairy farming in Europe faces profound environmental, social, and economic sustainability challenges, which are of significant policy interest. These challenges support the need for a transition toward the uptake of more sustainable dairy farming practices. This paper examines the effects of an advisory instrument "balanced sustainability information" on farmers' preferences for more grass-based feeding systems using a between-subjects design and a discrete choice experiment among a sample of Swedish dairy farmers. Conceptually, we develop a state-dependent utility framework with Bayesian updating to motivate the impact pathway. Our results demonstrate that on average, balanced sustainability information has negligible effects on farmers' feed choices, which could be a consequence of opposing responses to the information, among others. Considering farmer heterogeneity based on their identities and prior knowledge, we find support for some evidence of treatment effects. Our findings highlight important and policy-relevant critical reflections about overoptimistic expectations of information provision as an instrument to nudge behavioral change toward more sustainable farming practices

EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE GROWTH RATE OF MAIZE PRODUCTION IN THE PRE - SAP, SAP AND POST - SAP PERIODS IN NIGERIA

This study was carried out to provide empirical evidence on the growth rates of maize production in three sub - periods in Nigeria namely pre - Structural Adjustment Programme period, Structural Adjustment Program period and post - Structural Adjustment Programme period. Secondary data on maize production in Nigeria during the Pre - Structural Adjustment Programme period (1970 to 1985), Structural Adjustment period (1986 to 1994) and post - Structural Adjustment Programme period (1995 to 2007) were employed in this study. A growth rate model was used to estimate the growth rates of maize in the three sub - periods. The results of the analysis showed that the instantaneous growth rates of maize production are - 0.1%, 5.7% and 2.4% and the compound rates of growth of maize production are - 0.001%, 0.059% and 0.024% for the pre - Structural Adjustment Programme, Structural Adjustment Programme and post - Structural Adjustment Programme periods respectively. The higher compound growth rate of maize production in the Structural Adjustment Programme period implies that the policy reforms in the period was more effective in ensuring increased growth of maize production over that of other periods in Nigeria. Therefore, despite the myriads of problems associated with the programme in Nigeria, it was beneficial to maize production in Nigeria

Agricultural Budgetary Allocation and Economic Growth in Nigeria: Implications for Agricultural Transformation in Nigeria

This paper was designed to investigate the linkage of Agricultural budgetary allocation and economic growth in Nigeria from an econometric perspective. The results of the analysis showed that in the long run, the relationship between agricultural budgetary allocation and economic growth in Nigeria is positive but not significant and in the short run, the relationship is positive and significant only for two years lagged value of agricultural budgetary allocation. This observed relationship is not unconnected to the low budgetary allocations to agriculture over the years in Nigeria. This implies that there is the need for a significant increase in allocations to agriculture in order to ensure that the agricultural sector plays a pivotal role in the national transformation agenda of Nigeria

Technical Efficiency-Food Security Nexus in Kaduna State, Nigeria: A Case Study of Poultry Egg Farmers

This study analysed the technical efficiency of poultry egg production for sustainable food security in the study area using primary data. The data were analysed using stochastic frontier, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) food security measurement, and correlation analysis to determine the relationship between technical efficiency and food security. The result of the study revealed that the poultry egg farmers had a very low technical efficiency of 23%, which implies that the poultry egg farmers have a chance of improving their technical efficiency by 77% using their available resource efficiently. The result also revealed that few of the households (10%) were food secure while most of them (90%) were food insecure at different levels of food insecurity. The result of the study further indicated a direct relationship between technical efficiency and food security at 1% level of probability, implying that as average productivity increases, food security increases. The policy implication is that food security among the poultry egg farmers is linked with improving their farm efficiency. If food security is to be ensured among the poultry egg farmers, their farming activities must be efficient. The study recommended that the poor food security status of the poultry egg farmers be improved by addressing their low level of technical efficiency through ensuring the efficient utilization of their available resources. This calls for emphasis on extension activities to focus on training poultry egg farmers on improved production management practices

GENDER INFLUENCE ON THE INCOME OF MAIZE FARMERS IN GIWA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KADUNA STATE

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of gender on the farm income of maize farmers in the study area. Primary data obtained using structured questionnaire were employed in the study and the data were collected from a sample size of 100 maize farmers comprising of 70 males and 30 females. The key finding of the study is that gender was significant at 1% probability level and had a positive influence on income of the maize farmers and this was attributed to the disparity in the access to production resources and supportive services by the male and female maize farmers with men having more favourable access to production resources especially land and other supportive services than women. Based on this finding, it is recommended that gender inequality in the distribution of resources, information and other farm inputs should be minimized so as to ensure that women have access to resources for production just as men do thereby enhancing their productivity and income

Site-specific nutrient management advice and agricultural intensification in maize-based systems in Nigeria

Maize is an important staple food and feed crop widely grown in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, the yield of maize is often below the best yield that can be obtained on-farm with current technology. Specifically in Nigeria, the average yield of maize was 1.8 tons/ha in 2014 compared to the world average of 5.6 tons/ha which indicates a maize yield gap of 3.8 tons/ha. Thus, there is the need for intensification of maize production through the use of innovative approaches to close the maize yield gap in Nigeria and SSA at large. To close the attainable yield gap of the smallholder maize-based farmers' using innovative approaches geared towards increasing their maize productivity and income, improving their food security and addressing the challenge of rural poverty, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) supported project known as Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa (TAMASA) is developing decision support tools for nutrient and crop management amongst other products and services of the project in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Tanzania. One of the decision support tools of particular interest to this doctoral research project is known as Nutrient Expert (NE) decision support tool. The tool is meant for use by extension service providers in generating fertilizer recommendations for specific fields or growing environments of maize-based farmers' which will help increase their maize yield and produce positive welfare benefits. Beyond the geospatial soil and agronomic research inputs in the tool development, a socioeconomic research is necessary to accompany the development, evaluation and dissemination process of the tool. This doctoral research includes an ex-ante and an ex-post components and focuses on both farmers'(ultimate beneficiaries of the tools) and extension agents' (target users of the tools) in order to effectively bridge the knowledge gap necessary for the successful uptake and continuous utilization of NE decision support tools. The ex-ante component seeks to obtain empirical information on preferences and behavioral responses (choice behavior) of farmers' and extension agents' to NE decision support tools through implementing choice experiment for farmers' and extension agents'. The ex-post component aims to empirically establish the potential of the tools in enhancing fertilizer use, yield and income of maize farmers' through implementing a randomized controlled trial.status: publishe

Information provision and preferences for more sustainable dairy farming: Choice experimental evidence from Sweden

Dairy farming in Europe faces profound environmental, social, and economic sustainability challenges, which are of significant policy interest. These challenges support the need for a transition toward the uptake of more sustainable dairy farming practices. This paper examines the effects of an advisory instrument “balanced sustainability information” on farmers’ preferences for more grass-based feeding systems using a between-subjects design and a discrete choice experiment among a sample of Swedish dairy farmers. Conceptually, we develop a state-dependent utility framework with Bayesian updating to motivate the impact pathway. Our results demonstrate that on average, balanced sustainability information has negligible effects on farmers’ feed choices, which could be a consequence of opposing responses to the information, among others. Considering farmer heterogeneity based on their identities and prior knowledge, we find support for some evidence of treatment effects. Our findings highlight important and policy-relevant critical reflections about overoptimistic expectations of information provision as an instrument to nudge behavioral change toward more sustainable farming practices

Farm Households Livelihood Diversification and Poverty Alleviation in Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

This  study  was  undertaken  to  determine  the  effect  of  livelihood  diversification  on  poverty alleviation in  Giwa  Local Government  Area  of  Kaduna  state, Nigeria. The  study  utilized  primary  data  collected  through  a  questionnaire  administered  to  100  respondents  selected  using  purposive  and  random  sampling  procedure. Data were analyzed  using  simple  descriptive  statistics, the FGT  poverty  model  and  Tobit  regression  model. The result of FGT poverty model revealed that the incidence of poverty among the farming households was 30%, and  this  implies  that  70%  of  the  farm  households  were  non-poor. The  result  of  the  Tobit  regression  showed  that  livelihood diversification  was  significant  at  1%  probability level  and  was negatively  related  to  the  poverty level  of  the  farmers. This  implies  that  a  farming  household  head  who  engages  in  a  number  of  livelihood  activities  has  a  lower  likelihood  of  being  poor. This  is  on  the  premise  that  increase  in  the  number  of  livelihood  activities  increases  the  income  of  the  farmers  and  invariably  their  purchasing  power  and  welfare.  It  is  recommended  that  awareness  and  skills  acquisition  training  programmes  should  be  established  at  the  grass root  by  the   local  government  authority  to  ensure  that  farmers  are  not  only  practising  farming  as  their  only  means  of  livelihood  but  also  a  wide  range  of  income  generating  activities  to  improve  their  well  being